The Return of Finish Ticket || 09.13.19

This concert held particular significance for me, which is why it’s that much harder for me to write about it. Now I’ve spoken about the start of my concert photography with Moriah Formica, but it is with Finish Ticket that my journey truly began. FT is San Fransisco-based quartet that straddles the line between indie rock and radio-ready pop. I came across their single “Color” them on a now-defunct hidden section of Google Play called the antenna sampler. I fell in love with the catchy melodies and lyrics, and the youthful, yet mature-sounding pop. “Color” in particular fills me with sad sort of nostalgic longing for something I can’t quite place. Shortly after discovering their EP (sometime in mid 2015), a friend and I made our way to Boston to see them perform at Brighton Music Hall. It was here I discovered concert photography.

Now how can I discover something that already exists? Easy. I didn’t know that it was a thing. It’s hard to know it’s a thing when you’re always so far away from the stage that even the performers look like miniatures. Finish Ticket was the second small & independent band I saw live, the first being the night before (and without a photographer). So when I saw the young woman, later identified as Brittany O’Brien, in the pit directly in front of me, photographing the band, I knew that it was something that I wanted to do.

Since starting my own journey, I’ve written Brit many times about tips, tricks, dos and don’ts of photographing a show, so imagine my surprise when it was she who gave me the okay to photograph the Finish Ticket set. So I guess that added an extra level of pressure. To me, photographing this show would mean I’ve come full circle, even if I’d already taken pictures of larger bands. It would be the end of an era in this stage of my photography career: the beginning. And I was feeling this immense anxiety about the whole show, not because of some kind of misplaced nostalgia, but rather because I was feeling the need to impress the band and the young photographer who indirectly gave me my start forwards.

I saw Finish Ticket perform four times in between 2016 and 2017, and the last one of those was in October of 2017 during their first headline tour. However, they took a long hiatus. Even with preceding their return tour by dropping two new singles, with their long break I certainly wasn’t expecting to see them perform at a giant amphitheater. I was expecting a venue comparable to Irving Plaza, Brighton, or my own local Upstate Concert Hall, but what I got was a room barely 400 square feet. I’m fairly certain my old apartment was bigger.

There was no pit, and we were pretty shoulder-to-shoulder. This left me no room to move, and I was sandwiched in between some teenagers (clearly marked with an X for underage) and another underage concert photographer shooting her first show. I was both highly amused by the teenagers to my right. They were incredibly friendly and supportive of the band, but also incredibly horny. And I got to hear all their terrible (emphasis on the terrible) innuendos and thirsting, fighting back fits of laughter. I was a little frustrated by my placement and inability to change angles, but I would make do.

The thing that frustrated me the most was the lighting, which was pretty bad. Not only did the stage lights hardly change (with only like three colors to them—boring!), but the lights were pretty dark for my concert photography standards. Even shooting wide open at f/2.8 (on both cameras) and even at times at f/1.8 (with my 50mm) and at ISO 6400 and HIGHER, I still found myself underexposing the photos. I know a high ISO is a must for low-light photography, but I hate grain so much I will do whatever I can to avoid it. In better lit venues, I often find myself shooting with ISO 800 or 1600 with a pretty fast shutter speed (think 1/250 or 1/500). Going that high with my ISO had my skin crawling in irritation. After the set, I spoke briefly with my Brittany about my frustrations, saying how I felt I wasn’t sure I got any photos I was going to like. She said that in situations like this, it always feels that way, but you’ll look at them and find you actually did get a few that you like. This turned out to be true. Damn, still passing me photographic wisdom, even with experience under my belt.

This show turned out to be atypical (for me) than their other shows in another way. This was the one and only time I didn’t stay to talk to the band. In past times, we’ve chatted, and even gone out to drinks with the band. This time we were ushered out pretty quickly by venue staff, and there was another show coming in afterwards. The words I wanted to say and the questions I wanted to ask would remain swirling around in my noggin. So, I’m sure you can understand that I’m pretty disappointed that I didn’t get to speak to the band.

But back to the show. Finish Ticket was preceded by bands First in Flight and Cemetery Sun. I’d seen Cemetery Sun before since they opened for Finish Ticket at Brighton Music Hall back in February of 2016. But both opening bands put on an incredibly lively and energetic show. The front man for First in Flight wearing a shiny red letterman jacket and even doing backflips on that tiny stage.

Finish Ticket‘s set was entertaining as ever. They sounded fantastic (as I expected), but there were some things I noticed that might be less obvious to someone who hasn’t seen them perform as many times as I have. Front man Brendan Hoye has always been a lively performer, with lots of gestures and facial expressions, but he seemed more manic this time. He seemed less happy, offering fewer smiles to the crowd, and rather was full of more emotional darkness. He looked as if he’d aged slightly more than the hiatus would have suggested; he looked more chiseled and weathered, more of an adult with life experiences of all kinds carved into his face. I’m not saying he should be forcing smiles if he’s not feeling it, it is merely an observation.

I knew that the band had been going through something, including losing Brendan’s twin brother as a band member. They have been pretty open about their struggles and silence the past couple years, and their song “Ceiling Won’t Break” is about dealing with depression and inner darkness, but it saddened me to see them like this. And I don’t know if feeling sad for them is a fair emotion to have, since they owe me nothing, and I should be happy that they’ve continued to pursue music instead of just giving up. I colloquially refer to them as “My Boys” so I just want My Boys to be happy in what they’re doing, even if happiness means putting music on hold.

To view more pictures of Finish Ticket, click here.

Set List:
Wrong
When Night Becomes Day
In the Summer
Lying
Pockets
Black Horse
Ceiling Won’t Break
Scavenger
Dream Song
Catch You On My Way Out
Color
—
Rivers
Bring the Rain

Gear:
Canon T6s with EF 70-200 L IS II
Canon 6DmkII with EF 28-70mm f/2.8 L II

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